Established in 2014 by the Azrieli Foundation, the Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) offer opportunities for the discovery, creation, performance and celebration of excellence in new concert music.
The Ashkenaz Festival, held in Toronto, is one of the largest and most prestigious showcases of Jewish music and culture in the world. The biennial festival is an eclectic showcase of global Jewish art and culture, and attracts a large multicultural audience. It has a multidisciplinary focus – mainly music, but the festival also features dance, theatre, film, literature and talk, visual arts, and kids and family programs.
CICF partners with the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) to offer a range of programming that advances artistic life in Israel and showcases Israeli culture in Canada across a wide range of disciplines. The work of CICF and AICF lies in encouraging artistic excellence, especially among emerging and early career artists.
The Foundation is pleased to help facilitate the professional journey of gifted musicians in partnership with the following institutions. Together, we cultivate significant talent for the world stage.
BISQC is well recognized as a leader among international music competitions. It identifies and provides best-in-class career support to the next generation of exceptionally talented chamber musicians. Its laureate roster reads as a “who’s who” of the best early and mid-career string quartets on the global concert circuit.
The triennial Honens International Piano Competition discovers and launches the careers of the world’s most promising new pianists, all who prove themselves to be a “Complete Artist.” Its three-year Artist Development Program includes a personalized package of international debuts recitals, artist residencies, a commercial audio recording, mentorship and representation.
CMIM selects and supports young musical talent the world can offer to pursue an international performing career. CMIM is unique among its Canadian colleagues in that it selects laureates for three different instruments – violin, piano and voice – on a three-year rotation. It is also the only such competition to runs on an annual basis.
HAS is a network of charities that bring professional music concerts into health care facilities and seniors’ residences, thereby improving quality of life for these populations that would otherwise go without access to live music.
Since 2017, HAS’s annual concert delivery has increased by 39% to over 2,000 across the country, engaging over 4,300 professional musicians and reaching over 105,000 audience members.
Sulamot, meaning both a ladder and a musical scale in Hebrew, is an innovative and inspiring music education program for children at-risk in Israel. By providing opportunities for these children to engage in meaningful music learning experiences – all within a patient, generous, and compassionate environment – Sulamot helps instill in them a sense of pride, belonging and hope.
MAE realizes The Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal’s vision for an intensive music learning program focused on developing the long-term success of kindergarten aged children. Launched by the OSM in 2017 as music-school-within-a-school in Montreal North, MAE has since become its own independent charity and branched out to the broader community through and expanded performance and education program.
The Quebec Regional Orchestra Strategy unites symphony orchestras with a similar goal. With the strong belief that orchestras make meaningful and sustainable impacts on the quality of life in the communities they serve, this strategy provides communities with access to orchestral music in all of its forms and genres.
We are proud to cultivate and help grow artistic talent in Canada and in Israel.
We are proud to support educational opportunities in music and the arts.
Violins of Hope is a collection of Holocaust related string instruments owned by violin makers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein that serve to educate and memorialize the lives of prisoners in concentration camps. The Foundation supported the first Canadian concert featuring eight violins from the collection in a unique musical event performed by the Orchestre Metropolitain.
Tarragon Theatre creates and performs works of dramatic art, from new and established playwrights. The Foundation’s support enable a partnership between Tarragon and Theaturtle to prepare the production of Charlotte: A Tri-Coloured Play with Music in Israel and Europe.
FMB offers concerts by local, national and international stars that bring a fresh perspective to early music performance. The Foundation’s support will enable FMB to host the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra for a series of concerts in Montreal.
The 2B Theatre Company produces original theatre that seeks to stimulate the mind and spirit. The Foundation is supporting 2B’s national and international tour of Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story – a Klezmer-folk music-theatre hybrid starring genre-bending sensation Ben Caplan, inspired by the true stories of two Jewish Romanian refugees coming to Canada in 1908.
Photo credit: Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal
The Musée d’ art contemporain de Montréal’s record-breaking exhibit has seen 350,000 visitors since its inception in 2017. Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything is a major exhibition which features 20 contemporary artworks by 40 international artists, and is entirely devoted to the life and legacy of Leonard Cohen. It is currently on display at the Jewish Museum in New York and will continue on to the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. The Montreal museum is strengthening its presence on the international art scene, while promoting Montreal and Canadian artists.
Photo credit: Hadassah Academic College
Hadassah Academic College aspires to set the standard of excellence for career-focused academic learning in Israel, exemplifying the strength of a diverse, inclusive, urban general college, transforming lives and communities through learning and cultural programming. Recent growth in student enrollment invited an expansion of Hadassah’s historic downtown Jerusalem campus, including the creation of a new public gallery. This cultural gateway is designed to exhibit work by the city’s artistic community as well as the College’s photography and industrial design students. Its cultural contribution also reinforces the revitalization of the Jerusalem’s downtown core.
Photo credit: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Chagall: Colour and Music was the largest Canadian exhibition devoted to artist Marc Chagall. Featuring 340 works of art and a large selection of documentary works, including films, photographs and musical excerpts, this multidisciplinary exhibition is the first to focus on Chagall’s profound connection to music in his life and work.
Photo credit: Israel Museum
The Israel Museum is the largest cultural institution in Israel and is ranked among the world’s leading art and archaeology museums. Founded in 1965, the Museum houses encyclopedic collections, including works dating from prehistory to the present day, in its Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Jewish Art and Life Wings, and features the most extensive holdings of biblical and Holy Land archaeology in the world.
It is an honour for the Azrieli Foundation to provide ongoing support to the following organizations that continue to foster and elevate musicians and artists around the world.
By supporting classical music competitions, the Azrieli Foundation is instrumental in launching outstanding emerging artists on their professional journeys.
